More Than Blue
by Lira-chan
Summary: [Entry for Wing's Karaoke Kontest] Miyako drags Ken to a club along with her, Hikari, and Takeru. Ken feels like a metaphorical third wheel, but there's more to the night spent at the club than he thinks. [daiken]


-

Lira: Well, THIS new little fic wasn't so much a plot bunny as a half-formed idea spawned from a-

Iori: (interrupting) What she's TRYING to say is that she's just gotten sucked into an online trading card game that had a contest to win cards. A WRITING contest. Obviously, Lira chose to write a digimon fic.

Lira: (indignant) Yes. Yes I did. This story is my contest entry for the first portion of the "Karaoke Kontest" on Wing's "Karaoke Kards" TCG site. Obviously, it's dedicated to Wing-chan, who I wouldn't've met if it weren't for my dear friend Elaine. Love to both of you.

Iori: Other than that… Lira STILL doesn't own Digimon, nor does she own Initial D, and the Initial D song "I Love You Like You Are" that she's using for the fic. Don't know why, though, seeing as she doesn't like the Initial D anime OR manga…

Lira: And for the record, no. This isn't a songfic. On TO the fic!

-

SKY MORE THAN BLUE: BURNING UP FOR YOU

--by: lira-chan--

-

Ken Ichijouji sat hunched over a martini glass at the bar at a club whose name he'd long since forgotten. How could he possibly have remembered something as insignificant as one little club name amidst all the misery he was experiencing, just _being _inside the club? "Clubbing" was not something Ken _did. _He still wasn't sure exactly why he was there. How _had_ he ended up "drowning his sorrows" in a martini glass in some seedy little club he wasn't even familiar with?

Oh. That was right. Miyako.

Miyako had asked Ken to come with her to the club. For some reason, Miyako, Hikari, and Takeru had made plans to go clubbing, and Miyako had wanted Ken to come along as well. Thinking it over, it actually _did_ make sense. At least, Ken could see the sense in accompanying his three friends. The problem Ken encountered involved _Miyako's_ logic regarding Ken and the club. Hikari and Takeru had finally bit the bullet, and had decided to try going out. Frequenting clubs made sense for the two lovebirds. But Miyako and Ken? The bachelorette and bachelor, respectively? They probably had even _more_ incentive to frequent clubs, if they wanted to meet up with people.

Ken didn't want to meet up with people.

Ken _wasn't_ a social person. He just _wasn't. _He was actually quite surprised, looking back, to see how large his group of friends had become. The only reason it was so large, of course, was because of his adventures in the digital world, but it was nice to have a solid group of friends. Ken really didn't _need_ a girlfriend. Or rather, in Ken's case, a boyfriend. Still leaning over his now-empty martini glass, Ken wrinkled his nose in distaste: _females_. With the girls Ken knew… Hikari was sweet, but she was almost _too_ sweet. Ken couldn't imagine dating her, even if he _did_ swing that way. And Miyako? She was just flat-out insane. He was unwilling to even _try_ to picture dating her- she had so many strikes against her that the humor in her failure became completely lost.

Miyako, on the other hand, _did_ seem to want to get out and meet people. That was why she'd agreed to go with Hikari and Takeru. That was why she was at the club. And apparently, in Miyako's mind that was _also_ why she'd brought Ken.

Any sane person would wonder how, exactly, bringing a date could help you _get_ a date. Miyako had an explanation for this. Ken wasn't a _date_ date, she said. Instead, Ken was sort of Miyako's buffer. In Miyako's eyes, a guy either liked her, or he was gay. She just couldn't fathom someone honestly _not_ being attracted to her. By bringing Ken, Miyako ruled that all the gay guys in the bar would be attracted to her _gorgeous_ companion, and she could zone in on whichever hotties weren't ogling Ken.

Sometimes, Miyako really _did_ frighten Ken. And he thought he'd been getting used to her…

However, at some point Miyako must have abandoned her plan, Ken observed quietly. Miyako was nowhere in sight. Perhaps she had finally realized that Ken's moodiness _did_ overrule whatever good looks he might or might not possess. Being dragged around strange clubs made Ken irritable, and by that point in the evening, Ken was _distinctly_ temperamental.

Turning in his stool, Ken scanned the dance floor swiftly, seeking out his friends- seeking out Takeru, Hikari, and most importantly, Miyako. In no time, he'd spotted Takeru and Hikari, dancing blissfully together, but Miyako was _still_ missing in action.

That was when all the rotating, flashing, "disco-esque" lights in the club went out. For a moment, the entire club was pitch black. Then a few of the lights overhead came back on- only the lights coming on were all covered with blue plastic shields, making the light thin and watery, like pale moonlight, and leaving half of the club still in shadow. A single white spotlight came on above the dance floor, pointing back at something clear across the floor from Ken, so far away that all the bodies still on the floor, in combination with the darkness, blocked this mysterious something from Ken's view.

At the same time the spotlight had come on, music began playing, faintly, in the background. With the theme of the lighting, Ken had expected something slow and romantic, and yet the melody he heard coming over the club speakers sounded distinctly bright and upbeat. Regardless, the spotlight slowly began to move forward, and the dancers still standing in place began to clear away, moving to either side of the dance floor. Ken still couldn't see whoever it was the spotlight had to be illuminating.

"_I'm burning up for you. I'm burning up for you._"

Ken caught the opening lines of the song, and realized that it sounded vaguely familiar. Still, he couldn't yet make out the melody well enough to pair a name with the tune. The dancers had backed away entirely, and a figure still cloaked in shadow despite the illuminating spotlight came into view in the center of the dance floor. They continued to walk, and Ken realized that the person, whoever it was, was walking towards _him._

Or rather, they were walking towards the bar. They couldn't _possibly_ be walking towards _Ken._ Who did Ken know who would do this for _him?_

"_I will pray now and for every day to be with you_," the person sang softly, although Ken heard every word. A microphone, cupped in one hand, had been pressed close to their lips. "_To make your sky more than blue._"

The person was walking as he was singing- and it was a he, Ken could make out at least that much despite the annoying lighting- and it would be just _moments_ until Ken could make out some facial features, _something_ to tell him who this mysterious, serenading stranger was. And then…

"_Daisuke_?"

Ken's eyes widened to an extent he hadn't even thought was _possible_ as he choked out the single word that was his best friend's name. Standing right there before him, bathed in blue and white artificial light, was Daisuke Motomiya. Singing- no, _serenading_- Ken. Ken was in shock.

"Daisuke?" he asked again, this time with less force and a more questioning tone. "Daisuke, what are you… This… What's going on?"

Daisuke just smiled, and by then his feet had brought him to stand right before Ken. However, the music was still playing, and Daisuke hadn't let up in his somewhat off-key singing. "_I'm burning up for you. I'm burning up for you,_" he crooned, eyes dancing with a mischievous light, as if his singing could somehow pass for an answer. "_I burn every time I'm close to you._"

"Daisuke…" Ken said again, helplessly. By then, he was more than aware of all the people crowded around them, standing in a half-circle just a ways back, on the dance floor. Ken was distinctly aware of a slow heating to his cheeks, but he refused to let that faze him. "Daisuke, how did you _do_ this?"

The music kept playing, and Daisuke kept singing, but it looked like he was about to relent. He paused in his singing, pulling the microphone away from his mouth and flashing Ken one of his most brilliant smiles. "What, this?" he asked, sounding playful. "You'd like to know, wouldn't you?"

Ken was hard-pressed not to laugh; Daisuke sounded so positively _adorable_, with his singing that was so blatantly _bad_ that it was actually rather good, and with his feet bouncing him around in time with the upbeat music, and Ken thought he could just- no. No. This was _Daisuke_. Ken couldn't… Not… Daisuke. There was the fact that Daisuke was Daisuke- that and the fact that what Ken wanted to do might get them both thrown out of the club for… _indecent exposure_ or something… He couldn't do that. Not after Daisuke had gone to all the trouble of setting everything up.

"Come on, Dai," Ken wheedled obediently, knowing that this was what Daisuke wanted.

"Well, if you really must know," Daisuke began airily, the bubbly music still playing in the background rather ruining the imperious effect, "Takeru's brother Yamato knows the owner of the club, seeing as 'The Teenage Wolves' have played here a couple of times, so Takeru and Hikari got us permission to do it tonight. Miyako got me the music and stuff- she's in the DJ's box right now- and she told me she could get you here without you suspecting a thing. Pretty slick, huh?"

Daisuke sounded so proud… And perhaps he had a right to be. Ken _hadn't_ suspected a thing- he'd just followed Miyako and the others to the club. The others? They'd _all_ been in on Daisuke's little scheme. Ken would have to remind himself to give his friends more credit- and to watch them more carefully. Apparently, they could be _tricky._

"Pretty slick," Ken admitted weakly, only to have his admittance met with a bright smile from Daisuke. The music kept playing.

"Yeah, well," Daisuke started, preening with the apparent success of his plan. "_I burn every time that I'm close to you,_" he sang, rather than finishing, catching on to the end of a verse. "_I'm burning up for you. I'm burning up for you. I never love anybody the way that I do._"

Ken smiled as Daisuke sang. He'd been surprised at first, he admitted. After all, Daisuke wasn't the romantic type, so a serenade of sorts wasn't something Ken would have expected out of the boy. But considering the nature of this particular serenade? Ken decided that it was a _very_ Daisuke thing to do.

"_I'm burning up for you. I'm burning up for you._"

Daisuke sang the last two bars of the song along with the music drifting out over the air, and Ken took a moment to register that the song was _ending_. The music faded away, and Daisuke continued to smile blissfully, dropping the hand clutching the microphone to his side, and leaning close to Ken.

"So, what did you think?" he asked into the sudden silence, sounding almost… Seductive? Ken shook himself; Daisuke? Seduction? Those two words didn't belong together in the same _paragraph, _let alone _sentence_. And yet… It fit.

"It was-" Ken began, before his voice was drowned out by the applause of an audience Ken had completely forgotten was there. The applause washed over the two of them in a wave, rising and growing louder before slowly ebbing and dying away. Ken smiled into the second silence, a smile that was slow, sweet, and just a bit tentative. "It was… _Marvelous."_

Daisuke positively _glowed_ with the praise for his supposed brilliance. Ken was starting to laugh, ever-amused with Daisuke's spontaneous-ity and pseudo-innocence, but Daisuke chose that very moment to display just how spontaneous he could be. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Ken's, one hand on the bar behind Ken for support, one hand dropped lightly on Ken's shoulder. It was a slightly awkward kiss, with Ken taken just a bit by surprise, not realizing what was going on in order to react to it right away. It was also a relatively chaste kiss, lasting only a handful of seconds before being broken by Daisuke, who leaned back slightly, still smiling like a cat who had gotten into the cream.

"_I never love anybody the way that I do,_" Daisuke sang softly, stealing a line from the song as he stared into Ken's eyes from just inches away. "_Daisuki_, Ken."

With that, Ken simply melted, forgetting Miyako's insanity and trickery, forgetting their audience of sorts, forgetting everything save for Daisuke and his sudden, sweet declaration of love. Ken threw his arms around Daisuke's neck, pulling him close.

"_Daisuki_, Dai-chan," Ken mumbled happily, thin fingers curling up into Daisuke's auburn hair. "I love you too. _I will pray now and for every day to be with you_."

"Thanks, Ken," Daisuke said, now a bit bashful as he leaned out of the embrace, then leaned _in_ for a second and _much_ more rewarding kiss. Lost together, neither boy noticed the lights returning to normal, the regular dance music coming back on, and the second round of applause they received from parts of the crowd before the assembled dancers returned to the activity they'd come to the club to participate in. They were in love.

-

Iori: (loudly) "-and they all lived happily ever after!" I mean, goodness, Lira, but this was UTTER SAP. And why's Takeru dating Hikari!

Lira: (smug look) Looks like somebody forgot that before I was an all-out Takori fangirl, I DID support Takari, huh? Well, you ARE always saying that you don't want to be in fics. So you weren't in the fic. But Takeru was- with Hikari.

Iori: …Damn.

Lira: Anyway, I think this is suitable for the contest… So here's my two cents on the fic itself. The song "Burning Up For You"? I don't REALLY think that this is THE daiken song of the century or anything, but Initial D is an anime that Daisuke might watch, right? And when you think of a romantic serenade, you think slow, melancholy love ballads. Not upbeat, j-pop-y music like this song. And yet it's a very "Daisuke" sort of thing, in my humble opinion.

Iori: And with that, we leave you to writing your review. 'Cause you know you're gonna.

-


End file.
